written by Evan Anderson

Mutton snappers are a favorite of Scott Walker and Steve Rodger, hosts of Into the Blue. In this episode, the two captains head just offshore from the Hawks Cay Resort to fish for muttons on a few of the wrecks out there. It’s an exciting episode with some good advice for any capable wreck angler. Here’s how Walker and Rodger like to catch mutton snappers on Florida wrecks.

LIVE BAIT

If you’ve been with us for a while now, the importance of live bait surely won’t surprise you. It’s one of the first things Walker and Rodger will recommend for just about any offshore species, and mutton snappers are certainly no exception. “You lay something down that’s dead,” Rodger explains, “a fish is going to come up and maybe check it out, he might eat it he might not. Whereas if you’ve got a real frisky live bait, the fish comes up and he runs. And when the bait runs, the fish is going to go after him, just like a dog.”

Walker has a pen off the side of his dock where he keeps a healthy group of ballyhoo and is careful when taking them out to put in the live well of his Yellowfin. “I’ve got some penned-up bait that I’m going to scoop [into the live well] one at a time to avoid damaging them,” he says, “That way we have fresh offerings for the mutton snappers if we can catch any fresh ballyhoo.”

They’ll still throw the cast net and see if they can bring in some more fresh baits before heading to the wreck, of course. “Whenever the fishing is good,” says Walker, “as soon as I have 3 dozen to 40 ballyhoo I’m good.” He’ll use a good pair of Nikon binoculars to locate the Tennessee lighthouse for today’s bait.

HEAVY, NOISY WEIGHTS

According to Walker, muttons like to hang out on the outside of the wreck instead of right on it, and their instinct when you hook them is to shoot out away from the wreck. This is great news because it means that, for once, there’s a fish that won’t actively try to tangle your line up in the structure.

Mutton snapper are also bottom-dwellers, so you need a heavy weight to get your bait down to them. “They like noise,” says Walker, “so we use nice big leads: 8-oz., 10-oz., even up to 12-oz. Depending on the current. And you want to hammer it on the sand. You want to hit the bottom, bounce a little, and create some noise.”

“Whenever we’re doing this wreck fishing,” adds Rodger, “we’ll have a couple bottom rods rigged up which consist of an 8-oz/10-oz sinker (depending on the current and the wind) with a 30-foot shot of leader, and those will be your two bottom rigs.”

METAL JIGS

While live ballyhoo are the best baits for catching muttons, you can still utilize some metal jigs as well to stir up a bite. “We also throw some metal jigs and butterfly jigs,” explains Rodger, because while you’re throwing that bottom rig out, you can flick that butterfly jig out and you can get a reaction bite.”

DRIFTING

Sometimes offshore fishing requires a lot of moving parts to make it work. Not so with fishing the wrecks off of Duck Key. All you have to do is read the current and set up a drift. “What’s nice about fishing these wrecks is you don’t have to have so much going on,” Walker explains, “600 foot anchor line, sand balls, chum, live bait, you don’t need any of that. You can just pop from spot to spot, catch some dinner, and head on down the road.”